IRELAND WRAP UP CANADA IN 2 DAYS

DAY 2 of Canada's Intercontinental Cup fixture with Ireland is underway from Observatory Lane in Dublin.

Canada did well to scuttle the balance of the Irish innings for a paltry 27 behind the bowling of Khurram Chohan (4-101) and Manny Aulakh (3-94), who both grabbed a piece of the morning's action.

In their 1st innings response, Canada came out agressively with Ruvindu Gunasekera (66) taking iniative over an Irish bowling attack that will miss the veteran leadership of the cagy Trent Johnston.

The innings however belonged to Irish spinners as Alberta van der Merwe (5-70) and George Dockrell (2-60) combined with seamer John Mooney (2-28) to rattle the Canadian batting to 194 all out.

Canada followed on and after a steady start, wickets began to tumble. Rizwan Cheema did set the Dublin sky ablaze wtih a scintilating half century scoring 97 (45 balls | 10 sixes). Cheema's extraordinary innings ended with Boom Boom short of a century but he very clearly announced that he is back and a force to be reckoned with. Cheema's departure spelt the end for any Canadian resistance as they were bundled out for 257, some 11 runs adrift of the target.

Despite the dissapointing outcome, Canada takes a measure of confidence into the coming ODI's .

Speaking from Toronto, President Ranjit Saini spoke about the loss

"We were of course all dissapointed with the outcome today but take solace that the dissapointment comes from the passion to win not only in our players but our administratiors and fans across the globe. Year's of neglect of our domestic system have put us into an unenviable position and while we move to correct this deficiency, we will continue to breed our young players into our team. We expect uneven outcomes but know that the path we are on will lead to greater successes in the future.

we are proud of the fight and determination our boys showed today and expect the same next week in the ODI's."